Residents of public-housing tower in Short North must move by April

Close to 100 low-income residents of the 11-story Bollinger Tower in the Short North will have to move by the end of April so a developer can begin converting the building into a hotel.

Representatives of the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority and a relocation company, R.H. Brown & Co., met with residents, many of them seniors, on Thursday to discuss the transition.

Bollinger Tower, at 750 N. High St., was built in 1984 as public housing and is in the heart of the Short North and its host of shops, restaurants and bars. Schiff Capital Group bought the building from CMHA for $14 million last year. Schiff, along with Continental Real Estate and partners Kevin James and Micha Bitton of Colliers International, are converting the building into a Cambria Suites hotel, an upscale, all-suite brand of Choice Hotels.

CMHA is providing the 96 residents of Bollinger Tower with housing vouchers to help pay the rent at their new homes.

Scott Scharlach, CMHA's vice president of asset management, said a relocation company " which helped residents move from the Poindexter Village public-housing complex, among others " will help pack and move belongings from Bollinger Tower and set them up in the new residences.

CMHA is spending $300,000 to relocate residents. Included in that is $500 for each resident who moves by April 15 'for the inconvenience of moving,' said Bryan Brown, CMHA's chief operating officer.

Scharlach said he hasn't heard of much pushback from the people who have to move. 'Some residents have expressed concerns,' he said. 'The overall feeling is that they know this is coming.'

But residents such as Venida Banner say they aren't thrilled about moving. Banner, 63, said she moved to Bollinger Tower from the South Side in September.

'I'd like to stay here,' she said, noting that a stop for three bus lines is right outside the front door.

'It's not right at all putting us out like this,' she said.

Another resident, John Pawlaczyk, 72, said he, too, doesn't want to move. He has lived at Bollinger Tower for six years and is thinking of moving back to Belmont County in eastern Ohio.

Scharlach said the service contract for residents' moves covers those within 50 miles. Assisting moves farther away will be considered case by case.

CMHA has said the money from the sale will pay for as many as 300 affordable units of either new or renovated housing. CMHA's Brown said the authority has 20,000 people on its waiting list.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

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